In the related art, JP 2011-201434A (Reference 1) discloses a seat slide apparatus for a vehicle, for example. As illustrated in FIG. 14, this seat slide apparatus for a vehicle includes a lower rail 110, an upper rail 120 that is connected to the lower rail 110 to be relatively movable, and a locking member (not illustrated) that selectively locks the lower rail 110 and the upper rail 120 to prevent relative movements therebetween.
A memory piece 130 that is placed in the lower rail 110 engages with the upper rail 120 due to an upward urging force by a memory piece urging member 132 while being disengaged from the lower rail 110, and engages with the lower rail 110 due to a downward pressing force against the urging force by the memory piece urging member 132 while being disengaged from the upper rail 120.
An unlocking lever 141 that is connected to an upper portion of the upper rail 120 to freely turn holds an initial turning position where the locking member is released due to the urging force by a lever urging member (not illustrated) while pressing the locking member in a turning direction in which the prevented relative movements are unlocked by turning against the urging force of the lever urging member when a seatback is shifted from a ready-for-seating state to a forward-inclined state (hereinafter, also referred to as “forward tilt”). Furthermore, a memory operation lever 142 that is connected to the upper portion of the upper rail 120 to freely turn and connected to the unlocking lever 141 through a connection lever 143 holds the initial turning position where the memory piece 130 is released when the unlocking lever 141 holds the initial turning position while pressing the memory piece 130 downward by turning through the unlocking lever 141 and the like in accordance with the forward tilt of the seatback. Moreover, a memory holding bracket 135 that is fixed to the upper rail 120 approaches above the memory piece 130 and maintains an engagement state and the like with the lower rail 110 in accordance with the upper rail 120 moving in front of a seat after the forward tilt of the seatback. Furthermore, a stopper member 136 that is fixed to a front end of the upper rail 120 abuts on the memory piece 130 and locks the lower rail 110 and the upper rail 120 at the relative positions (stored relative positions) to be prevented from moving behind the seat before moving when the upper rail 120 moves behind the seat after moving in front of the seat in accordance with the forward tilt of the seatback.
In such a configuration, in accordance with the forward tilt of the seatback, if the unlocking lever 141 and the memory operation lever 142 turn, the unlocking lever 141 unlocks the prevented relative movements of the lower rail 110 and the upper rail 120 due to the locking member while the memory operation lever 142 causes the memory piece 130 to engage and the like with the lower rail 110.
In this state, if the upper rail 120 moves in front of the seat, although the memory piece 130 is released from the memory operation lever 142, the engagement state with the lower rail 110 is maintained by the memory holding bracket 135 approaching thereabove.
Thereafter, in the forward tilt of the seatback, if the upper rail 120 moves behind the seat, the stopper member 136 abuts on the memory piece 130, thereby being locked to be prevented from moving. Accordingly, relative positions (stored relative positions) of the lower rail 110 and the upper rail 120 before the upper rail 120 moves in front of the seat in accordance with the forward tilt of the seatback are restored. Subsequently, if the forward tilt is canceled by erecting the seatback, the locking member that is released from the unlocking lever 141 locks the relative movements of the lower rail 110 and the upper rail 120. At the same time, the memory piece 130 that is released from the memory operation lever 142 engages with the upper rail 120 due to the urging force by the memory piece urging member 132 while disengaging from the lower rail 110.
As above, when the upper rail 120 moves behind the seat after moving in front of the seat in accordance with the forward tilt of the seatback, the state before the movement is restored via cancellation of the forward tilt of the seatback.
Incidentally, according to Reference 1, a position where the memory piece 130 engages with the upper rail 120 is set in a front end portion of the upper rail 120, and thus, the memory piece 130 is set to be pressed by the memory operation lever 142 independently from the unlocking lever 141. For this reason, there is a need for the unlocking lever 141, the memory operation lever 142 and the connection lever 143 to be installed in the upper portion of the upper rail 120, thereby causing a disposition space necessary for an outside of the rail to be increased.